Relay.



@MVMW E, R. 00E.

RELAY.

` APPLICATION FILED SEPT,|2, Ig. u l LGVZ, Patented June 24, 1919.

2 SHEEfS-SHEET l.

vwn'NEssiezs Patented June 24, HB9.

2 SHEETS*SHEET 2.

E. R. COE.

RELAY.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. l2, |917.

WITNESSES UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ELMER R. COE, OF WILKINSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO THE UNION SWITCH6c SIGNAL COMPANY, OF SWISSVALE, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF PENN-SYLVAMA.

RELAY.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 24, 1919.

Application lerl September 12, 1917,y Serial No. 190,942.

To all whom` it may conc/'rn Be it known that. l, Emmi. ll. Con, acitizen of the United States, residing at lVilkinsburg, in the county ofAllegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Re,

adaptation. f

I will describe one form of relay embodying my invention, and willillustrate its ap-v phcation to a railway signaling system, -and 'willthen pointout the novel features thercot` in claims.

ln the accompanyingl drawings, Figure 1 is a View showing in verticalsection one form of relay embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a sectionalview on the line II-II of Fig. l, looking in the direction indicated bythe arrows. Fig. 3 is a sectional View on the plane indicated by theline III-'IH in Fig. l, looking in the direct-ion of the arrows. Figs. tand 5 are sectional views taken on the planes indicated by the lineslll-IV and V-V, respectively, in Fig.

l, and looking in the direction indicated.

by the arrows Fig. (3 is a diagrammatic View showing one form ot'railway signaling system having applied thereto a relay of the kindshown in Fig. 1.

Similar reference characters refer to similar parts in each ot theseveral views.

Referring first to Fig., 1, the relay in the forni here shown isincl'osed in a box comprising a base plate 1, a top plate 2, and glasssides 3.

The relay coniprisels a motor M which, as here shown, is of theinduction type, comprising a rotor t and two stator windings 5 and 6.For simplicity of illustration this motor/is shown diagrammatically inFig. 1, but it is understood that in practice the motor will be mountedon the base plate 1. The motor M is free to rotate ineach oirection, ndas is Well understood, '-he direction ofrotation depends. on therelative instantaneous phases ot the alternating cur-V rents supplied tothe stator windings 5 and 6.

Av and B are two centrifuges which are operatively connected with themotor M in such manner that one centrifuge or the other will be operatedaccording as the motor rotates in one direction or the other. Themechanism between the motorand the centrifuge is as follows:

Operatively connected with the rotor or motor M is a gear wheel 7mounted on a spindle 15 which.l rotates in ball-bearings 1G and llimounted in a tubular projection 1IT integral with the base plate. ThisWheel 7 meshes with two gears 8 and 9, whichare connected with thecentrifuges A and B respectively through directional clutches.

'Considering centrifuge lA particularly, the

main spindle 12 thereof extends downwardly and rotates in bal1-bearings13 and 13" mounted in a tubular projection 1El in' tegral with the baseplate. Tl1e.'gear 8 is provided with a hub 8a by which this gear ismounted to rotate in ball-bearings 14 and H which are carried by spindle12 and are held in place on the spindle by a stop f 80 17 fixed to thespindle. The directional clutch (see also Fig. 2)` is formed by the gear8, a block 10 fixed to the spindleand having triangular notches 10 cuttherein, and balls 11 located in these notchesand ope-rating between theblock 10 and the gear S. lVhen the gear. S rotates in the directionindicated by the arrow in Fig. 2 it drives centrifuge A in the samedirection, but when the gear rotates in the other4 direction the balls11 do not wedge and so the centrifuge remains at rest.

The mechanism between gear 9 and centrifuge B is exactly the same asthat between gear 8 and centrifuge A, the directional clutcli (see Fig.3) in this instance being so arranged that thecentrifuge is operatedwhen gear 9 rotates' in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 3 but not intheother direction.

k*the mechanism being asfollows: Referring to centrifuge A, the spindleis provided at its upper end with two diametrically d1sposed arms 22 and22 in which are Jour- 5 naled the Acentrifuge cranks and '23 which areprovided as usual with y-lballs 25. The inner yende of these cranksrolect into holes iii-'ahead 24 which is. ed to g a spindle 26 'arrangedto be guided by, and

l y to slide freelyl in the hollow spindle 12. The

v upper end of this head rotates on a; ballbearing 28 carried by a link27. It w1ll be seen that head 24, and consequently the link 1 27, aremoveddown and up accordingas the 1 centrifuge balls 25 move out and in,that is, accor as the centrifuge is rotatlng or is at rest. Link 27 ispivotally connected,

i at its upperend toa contact carrying block 29 which is pivotallymounted at point 29 2o by means not shown in the drawin This ck carriescontact linger 18. en the centrifuge A is at rest, block 29 occupies theposition shown, so that contact 1'8-.19

is open;'but when the eentrifugeis rotated f :5 at or above a givenspeed, block `29 is swung in clockwise direction about its pivotal pointso that the contact becomes'closed. v,

The control of contact `20---21 vby rcentrifuge lB is the same as thatAof contact 30 1 8-19 by centrifuge A.

It followsv from the foregoing that con# tact 18i-19 or contact 20-21 isclosed according as motor M rotates in one direction or the other,provided,phowever,- that the speed of rotation of this motor is at orabove 4a predetermined value. As a safeguard against false operation ofthe relay, means are Vpreferably provided y to prevent rotation of eachcentrifuge A and 40 B in the direction opposite to that in which it ispositively driven b motor M. As here shown,V this 1s accomp ished byproviding the Ihead 24 with ratchet teeth 38 (see-Figs.

1,- 4 and 5) which coact with a pawl 32 attached 1 to the contactvblock29. The pawl is 'in the path of the ratchet teeth-only when the block inthe position wherein the conltactis open that is, when the centrifuge isat rest, `so that the device is noiseless .when

the centrifuge is operating. As will be clear from 4igs. 4 and 5, eachpawl and ratchet device permits the corresponding centrifuge to rotateinthe direction in` i .whichitis driven by the motor, lbut pre ventsrotation of the centrifuge in the 0p posite direction.v l

I alsopreferably 'provide ymeans for intei-locking the two contactblocks 29 so that both contacts 18-19. and 20-21 cannot be closed at thesame time. This means, as lhere shown, comprises a bar 48 pivotallyconnected at its opposite ends with the L brackets supporting thecontact blocks 29.

One of` tl1ese pivotal connections includes a slot 49 1n the bar 48; Thedistance between the pivotal points on this bar, and the length of theslot 49, are such that both contacts may be fully opened simultaneously,but that when either contact is closed the bar will prevent the othercont-act being closed at the same time.

Leaving for'the moment the structure of the relay, I will referto Fig. 6and explain the operation, in a signaling system, of the parts of therelay thus far described. v

Referring to' Fig. 6, the reference char-v act'er 34 designates thetrack rails of a railway, which rails are divided by insulated joints 35to form a track. section C-D. vLocated adjacent the exit end of thistrack section is a source of alternating current,

which, as hereA shown, is a transformer 30, the seconda of whichispconnected with the track rai s and the primary of which is kconmactedwith transmission mains 60. to

Y'whichsigmalin current is supplied from a generator G. his source maybe reversibly connected with the track rails by a polechanger, P,. whichpole-chan er, as here shown, is operated by a signa S for the ltracksection next in advance. Located adjacent the entrance end'of sectionC-D is a si A al S, which is controlled by the relay R s own InFig. 1.One statorwinding 5 of this relay is connected directly with the trackrails of section C-D, this connec-A tion including a winding 35 of anauxiliary `relay E, t'he function of which is herein- -after explained.The other stator winding.

6 is constantly supplied with alternating. 100 signaling current fromthesecondary of a x transformer 31, the primary of whichis connectedwith the transmission mains 60. Signal S is adapted to give threeindications, namely, stop, caution and proceed. This signal isprovidedwith a cau. tion circuitL which is controlled by contact 18--19and with a proceed'circuit which is controlled by contact 20-21. rThecaution` circuit is yfrom the secondary of transformer v through wires41 and 42, contact 19--18, 1 wire 43, mechanism ofsignal S, and wiresv-44 and 45 to transformer 31. The proceed'-V circuit is from thesecondary of transformer 31,'th`rough wires 41, 42`iand 46, contact 11520-21, wire 47, mechanism of signal Sand 5 wires 44-and 45 totransformer 31.

It will be seen from the foregoing that when the track Section C-D isoccupied by a car or train W, as shown in the drawing, 'l

motor M of relay Ris denergizedso that. both contacts 18-19 and20'-21iare` open, whereby the signal S indicatesstop When thefcar ortrain W passeeout'of the to the'rails ofthis section and the' vpositionof pole-changer P will be such that motor M 1s energized in suchdirection that centrifuge f `A (Fig. 1) is operated; contact 18419 willtrack section C-D, current will be-su'pplied 125 then be closed so thatsignal- S ngi-ll change 13o y y to the caution indication. As the car ortrain passes out of thesectlonln advance of section C-D, pole-changer Pwill be `re-v versed, whereupon the direction 'of rotation vconsiderable period of time until its momentum is absor ed by friction.-The result is that the contact controlled by this centrifuge willremain closed for a considerable period of time, so that after the trainenters the section a considerable period of time will ela se before thesignal will chan e to stop.7 ov

avoid thissluggish action, provide braking devices for the centrifuges,which devices I will now describe. I

Fixed to the spindle 12 of centrifuge A -is a disk 50 ofelectro-conductive non-magna tizable material, such as aluminum, whichrotates between the poles of a fixed U-shaped lnagnetizable core 51.-This .core is provided with a winding 52', and it is also provided withshading bands v53 so aranged that when the winding is energized a torque1s exerted on disk 50 tending to rotate the disk in the directionopposite tothat in which it is rotated bythe motor M. It will be clear,therefore, that when centrifuge A is rotating and the winding 52 isenergized, a braking effect will be produced tending to bring thecentrifuge to rest.

Centrifuge B is provided with a similar braking device, having awinding'52", the shading bands being likewise so arranged `that when thedevice is energized it exerts a Itorque on the centrifuge opposite tothe direction in which the centrifuge is rotated by the motor.

Forthe control of the braking devices, I provide an auxiliary relayydevice E comprising a field core 57, a winding 35 thereon, a Z-arxnature58, and a contact 36 controlled by this armature. when the auxiliarydevice is denergized,

and open wht-u it is energized. The winding 25 of the auxiliary relaydevice E is included in series with ,the track winding of the motor M(see Fig. (i), so that this device is energized or not according as thetrack winding 5 is energized or not.

Further in control of the braking devices are two contacts 37-38 and 39-40 (see Fig. 6), operated by centrifuges A and B respectively.' Thesecontacts I will term brakecontrolling contacts, te distinguish them thatits contact 36 will become closed. braking device for centrifuge B,therefore,

.sequent -energization of motor winding 5 The contact 36 is closed *theauxiliary relay device E is simultanecontrolling contacts.

The energizing winding of each braking device is controlled by contact36 of the auxiliary relay device E and also by the brake controllingcontact operated bythe corresponding centrifuge. Referring to Fig. 6,the circuit for winding 52 of the braking device for centrifuge .A isfrom the secondary of transformer 31, through wires l1 and 54, contact36, wire 55, winding 59., contact 37-38, wires 56 and 45 to transformer31. The circuit for winding 52h is similar, except that it includescontact 39-40 instead of 90 contact 37-38.

The operation of the braking devices is as follows:

Assume that section C-D and the section in advance thereof areunoccupied, so that motor M is rotating in such direction thatcentrifuge B is operating whereby signal S indicates proceed Theauxiliary' relay device E is now energized sothat the circuits for thebraking devices are open at 10.0 Contact 3G and both of these devicesare therefore denergized. If now a car or train enters block sectionC-l), the auxiliary relay device E will be deiinergized so- The becomesenergized and so exerts a torque tending to bring this centrifuge torest. As I the centrifuge slows down; contact 20-21 opens, thus causingthe signal S to change is at rest or below a predetermined speed 116'this device consumes no current. Upon subously energized opening Contact36, so that even after one or the other of the brake con- 120A ,thesection in advance' is occupied so that centrifuge A is operating, thenwhen a train enters section C-D the operation will be' exactly the sameas before, the' braking device for centrifuge A then being energized 1304 f s asoman to quickly bring the 'speed of thiscentrifuge u t downbelow the point at which its signal contr lling. contact-1819 opens.

' the auxiliary rela lhave provided a three-position centrifugal relaywhich is quick-acting in so far 'as the opening .ofits slgnalcontrolling contacts is concerned.- Y Although I have herein shown anddescribed only one form of r lay embodying my invention and only one frm of signaling system also embodying my invention, it is understoodthatvarious chan es and modiviications may bemade therein within the`vscope Vof the appended claims Without departing f rnmjgghespirit andscope of my invention.V

auI

Havin thus described vmy invention,

1. A relay comprising a motor rotatable f in opposite directions, twocentrifuges one or the other of which is rotated according as the motorvrotates in one vdirection or the other, andcontacts controlled by saidcentrifugas.. l

l 2. A relay comprising a motor rotatable in opposite directlons, twospeed responsive 'l devices, means interposed between said modirectionalclutches one interposed etween 'tor and saiddevices for operating onedevice or vthe other according as the motor rotates in one direction `orthe other, and contacts controlled by said devices.

3. A relay comprising a motor rotatable in opposite directions, twocentrifu es, two

. the motorfand each centrifuge whereby one centrifuge or theother isoperated according as the motor rotates in one direction or the lother,and contacts controlled by said centrifu es.-

4.v relay comprising a motor rotatable 'in' opposite directions, twocentrifuges one' or the other ofwhich is rotated according as themotorrotates in one direction or the other, braking means for eachcentrifuge,

and contacts controlled by said centrifuges.

5. A`relay` comprising a motor rotatable Fin opposite directions, twospeed responsive 0 devices one or the other of which is operatedaccording as the motor rotates in one' direction orthe other, twocontactsione controlled by each speed-responsive degice, and

means for preventing simultaneou closure es t of said two contacts.

6. relay comprising a motor rotatable in opposite directions, twocentrifuges one or the other of whichis rotated according as the-motorrotates in one direction or the other, means forl preventing operationof each centrifu e in thef direction o posite to that in whic it isoperated b 7.-A relay comprising a motor rotatable in oppositedirections, two speed responsive devices one or the other of which isoperated according as the motor rotates in one direction or the other,and contacts controlled by said devices.

8. A relay comprising a motor rotatable in either direction, twocentrifuges'one or t e motor, and contacts controlled by saicentrifuges.

the other of which is operated according asi y said motor rotates invone direction or the other, contacts controlled by said oentrifuges,.

and/braking means for said centrifuges controlled by said contacts. l

9. A relay comprising a vmotor rotatable in either direction, twocentrifuges one or the other of which is operatedaccording said motorrotates in one direction or the other, contacts controlled by saidcentrifuges, an auxiliary rela with the circuit for sai energized 'ornot according as the 'mowr is energized or not, and braking means forsaid' centrifuges controlled by said contacts and by said auxiliaryrelay device.

. l0. A relay comprising a motor rotatable in either direction, twocentrifuges one or the other of which is. operated according as saidmoftor rotates in one direction or the device associated motor so as tobeother, contacts controlled 'by said centrifuges, V electromagneticbraking mea-ns for each centrifuge adapted when energized to retard therotation of the centrifuge, and means' controlled by said contacts andby a circuit for said motor andv operating when the 4motor becomesdenergized to energize the braking means for the centrifuge which wasoperating at the time of such deenergization, and to again denergizesuch braking means when the centrifuge slows down to a predeterrninedspeed. I

11. A relay comprising a motor rotatable in either direction, twocentrifuges' vone or the other of which is operated according as saidmotor. rotates in one direction Aorv the other, contacts Vcontrolled bysaid centrifuges,

circuit of a winding of said motor so as to be energized or notaccording as said Winding is energized or not, braking4 means for eachcentrifuge controlled by saidfcontacts and by said auxiliary relay'andoperating when .the contact controlled 'bythe corresponding centrifugeis closed and the auxiliary relay device is denergized, andr anothercontact controlled b veach centrifuge and arranged to open be ore thefirst-mentioned an auxiliary relay device associated with the f contactopens when the motor is denergized.-

.I .relay Comprising a motor, a centrifugge operated thereby, a Contactcontrolled bly @the centrifuge, an auxiliary relay device eSSeeia-edwith a. Winding el' saidqmeter, and zz, braking device fer saidcenti-llege controlled by said Contact and by said auxillary, relaydevice and Operative when sald `motor Windinfr is denernized and the s)eed of the centrifuge is at or above a predetermined value.

13. A relay eomprlSmg amoter, a 'cen'arifugefoliereed th'ereb a. Contactenrolled means associated with a. winding el' Said motor for rendering'said braking means i11- eperalive when said inding is energized.

l-l. A relay eomprising a. meter, a centri- Ylue'e operated thereby, abraking; device. for

Said centrifuge, means associated with a' winding' of saidl meter forconlrolling said hralmw device. and :l contact controlled b l b saidcentrifuge.

In teslmmny whereof I alhx my signature in pren-ence 0i two witnesses.

ELMER ll.. COE.

Wi messes A. HERMAN xxvicuxiiie E. P. (jmmr.

